an encouragement to those, who, conscious of their own imperfections, are attempting to reach some standard of excellence, which appears almost, if not altogether, unattainable. It is hoped that this little volume will come to the aid of some such, as a star to guide their trembling steps, on their first entering the straight and narrow way; and it is believed that if her character could be truly presented, it would serve to allure others also into that path, which, to her, was as the "rising light, shining more and more unto the perfect day." NOTE.-Unfeignedly grateful for the kind manner in which the Memoir has been received by an indulgent public, the author has carefully revised the work for a second edition, and has inserted a few items of additional matter, in the hope that it might make the volume somewhat more complete. CHAPTER I REMINISCENCES OF CHILDHOOD MARY ELIZABETH HAWES, second daughter of the Rev. Dr. Hawes, of Hartford, Connecticut, was born the 16th of April, 1821. The incidents of her childhood, if not remarkable, were yet such as to subject her to a somewhat severe moral discipline. By the time she was four years and four months old, a sister and brother had been removed from her by death, and, as she said, "she had been left alone two times." When Mary was five years old, she was sent to school. The following summer, the parent whose office it was more immediately to watch over and guide her unfolding faculties, observed with pain, that she was contracting a habit, which if not checked and overcome in childhood, would be a blight upon her otherwise lovely character, and greatly endanger, if not destroy, her happiness and usefulness in after life. It is a humiliating fact, that the propensity to deceive is one of the most common faults of childhood; but because it is thus common, it is not the less to be dreaded. Neither because it is a fault of childhood, should it be passed by under the mistaken impression that it will be felt and corrected in mature life. Mary's mother was fully sensible of the evil, and being desirous that the best means should be adopted for its correction, the father |